The present invention relates to a milking parlour for animals comprising at least one milking stall arranged to receive an animal in a predetermined milking position, teat cups arranged to be used in the milking stall, a teat cup carrier arranged to store the teat cups in the milking stall when they are not used, and at least one robot arm provided with at least one gripping member arranged to grip a teat cup in the teat cup carrier and attach it on the teat of an animal in the milking stall.
In a parallel rotary parlour, the cows normally enter a milking stall via an entrance at the outer edge portion of a rotary platform. The cows stand in a milking position in the milking stalls with their heads at an inner edge portion of the platform and with their rear portions at an outer edge portion of the platform. An operator, or a robot arm, working on the outside of the platform, fetches teat cups in a teat cup magazine and attaches them to the teats of the cow in the milking stall. The teat cup magazine is usually arranged in a position in the vicinity of the outer edge portion of the platform.
If the teat cup magazine is arranged at the side of the milking stall near the outer edge of the platform, the cows have to walk past the teat cup magazine when they enter and when they leave the milking stalls. The milking stalls must here be wider than otherwise needed in order to make room for the teat cup magazines, which restricts the numbers of milking stalls on the platform. In case the teat cup magazine is arranged behind the rear legs of the cow in the milking stall, the teat cups have to be moved through the space between the rear legs of the cow when the teat cups are attached to the teats. There is here a risk that a teat cup will be polluted when it moves through the area below the rear portion of the cow. There is also a risk that the cow stamps on the milk tubes with the rear legs during the milking process.
WO 2008/118068 shows a parallel rotary parlour for automatic milking of cows. A teat cup magazine is arranged on at least one side of the cows in the milking stalls. A robot arm is arranged on the outside of a rotary platform. In order to reach the teat cups in the teat cup magazine and attach them to the teats of the cow, the robot arm extends past the rear legs of the cow, grips the teat cups in the teat cup magazine, and attaches them on the teats of the animal.